Nightmare
by Shattered Aura
Summary: The sun rises. Pidge shifts, shutting her eyes tightly, but she can't escape the sunlig—Wait. Sunlight? There is no sunlight in the Castle of Lions. There is no sun. (Or, the one where she dreams of how Matt got the scar on his left cheek.) Cross-posted on Ao3 under "ShatteredAura".


**A/N: Hey guys!**

 **This is my very first Voltron fic! Yaayy!**

 **I've gotten into this fandom about early December, and after reading most fanfics on this website, I've decided I wanted to write my own ideas as we! I hope you will all enjoy this one! :)**

 **Disclaimer: Dreamworks owns Voltron: Legendary Defender.**

 **Summary: The sun rises. Pidge shifts, shutting her eyes tightly, but she can't escape the sunlig** **—Wait. Sunlight? There is no sunlight in the Castle of Lions. There is no _sun_. **

**Or, the one where she dreams of how Matt got the scar on his left cheek.**

 **This is set the night before she leaves to go on her mission to find Matt, in Season 4, Episode 2, "Reunion".** **Please R &R, but most importantly, enjoy!**

XxX

The sun rises.

Pidge shifts, shutting her eyes tightly, but she can't escape the sunlig—

Wait. Sunlight?

There is no sunlight in the Castle of Lions.

There is no _sun_.

She squints against the harsh light, yet her vision remains blurry. Where does it...?

She brings her right arm to shield her eyes from the sunlight. Yet, it never happens. Her arm does not budge.

She sharply glances to her right, her vision much clearer than it was mere seconds ago.

There is a bright purple cuff wrapped around her wrist.

Now that she makes the realization, she feels cuffs on her other wrist as well as on her ankles. She also feels the hard surface of solid metal underneath her figure to which the cuffs pin her to. She feels the fabric of her tattered clothes. She is wearing a Galra prisoner outfit.

Her breathing becomes quicker as the initial feeling of panic settles in. She could have sworn she'd fallen asleep on her bed in the Castle—

" **Ah, you are awake.** "

Her head whips to her left, where a large shadow previously had blended with the dark walls of the cell. Now, it has taken on the shape of a familiar face; Commander Sendak.

She hadn't known what had become of him after Shiro had launched him into space. Now, she knows.

He has his arm back.

The purple current buzzes with malice, and it is all she can see even when she squeezes her eyes shut. However, when she opens them again, she is met with an even more horrifying sight.

 _Haxus._

She gasps. She had seen him fall to his death—had _pushed_ him to his death—and he had taken Rover down with him.

He is back. She wants to ask him how he has even survived the fall, where is her drone.

Instead, she mutters, "W-Where am I?"

" **Your location does not matter, boy.** "

 _Boy_. Despite the fear creeping into her nerves, she fights the urge to laugh. They still think she's a boy? How blind are they?

Haxus apparently picks up on her line of thoughts, for he backhands her across the face. _Hard_.

She groans, her breath slapped out of her. She dares not speak, yet she wants answers. "Dad," she finally huffs out. "Wh-Where's my dad..."

Haxus scoffs. " **The old Terran? He was much too weak for the arena. He has been sent to a cam—** "

" **Silence!** " Sendak hisses, glaring at his second-in-command. " **Do not reveal the Terran's whereabouts to our prisoner, you imbecile!** "

But she has heard enough. A camp. As soon as she escapes this godforsaken place, she will search the Galra database for any prisoner camps.

"And...Sh-Shiro...?" she finds herself asking. Her eyes widen. Shiro was captured as well? Again?

Her stomach clenches with the foreign concept of hope. If Shiro is there, then that means she isn't alone. Maybe the other Paladins are there. While she fears for their condition, she knows if they are around, they'll rescue her. The five will rescue each other.

" ** _Champion_ is handling his own fairly well**," Sendak replies with a grin, sharp canines showing. She shakes.

She yearns for her brother. She so desperately wants to ask for him, but she can't bring herself to formulate any words.

The Galra take her silence as despair for her teammates and grin, circling around her.

" **Unfortunately, his little trick has not gone unnoticed by us. No prisoner has ever shown eagerness in defeating our old champion. He has protected you from certain death by injuring you.** "

 _Wait...what?_

She doesn't understand. Was she about to fight in the arena as well?

Then it dawns on her.

Shiro had injured her brother so he wouldn't be in condition to fight.

She frowns. Has he done the same for her? Has he sacrificed himself a second time to protect yet another Holt? It seems so surreal. She can't help but feel that there is something wrong.

She does not notice that Sendak was speaking to her the whole time until his mechanical hand hovers over her chest. " **Let's see him protect you from this.** "

And he presses down.

Her eyes seem to pop out of their sockets at the surprising amount of pain Sendak's blow inflicts on her. Her chest feels crushed, and the pressure, which only seems to increase, adds to the pain.

She has the urge to arch her back, to push his large, towering hand _away_ from her, yet it keeps her pinned down on the table.

Behind her, Haxus cups her chin with his dirty claws. She winces as he nearly draws blood but soon loses focus as he tilts her head straight so she has no choice but to look into Sendak's endless, dark yellow pits for eyes. Haxus uses his other hand and presses it to her forehead hard enough to keep her head pinned in that position.

The Galra commander brings his claws close to her face. She tries to flinch away, but Haxus' grip on her head is too strong. With a sadistic grin, Sendak drags his claw on her cheek, grazing a path for the _perfect_ scar, and _stabs_.

She yelps in pain, his claw piercing her smooth skin. She tries to struggle, but her efforts are in vain, as she can't turn her head away from his claw, and she can't buck his hand off her figure. "Sh-Shiro!" she yells, squeezing her eyes shut, clenching her teeth with a hiss. "Shiro!"

The reply is faint, but she hears it. "Pidge! I'm coming!"

" _Shiro!_ —"

"—Pidge!"

She rises with a sharp gasp. Grasps her bedsheets with one hand. Reaches out to touch her cheek with the other. Brings her fingers back in front of her.

There is no blood.

"Are you okay?"

She blinks, looking around.

There is no sunlight.

The others are standing in her room by her bedside with different degrees of worry etched onto their faces. Had they saved her from the tower? Had she fallen unconscious and she was waking up just now?

She stares down at her priso—green pajamas. She blushes. _God, I hope Allura is the one who changed my clothes._

"Pidge?"

She snaps back to attention. Shiro has taken a step forward and holds her hand, kneeling down next to her as he squeezes it reassuringly. "Pidge, what happened?"

She is a babbling mess. "Shiro, th-the tower. I was in the tower. An—"

"—What tower?—"

"—and Haxus and Sendak. Haxus was a-alive, Sendak was _there_ , he-he had his arm back, he was there, I swear, I—"

"Katie," Shiro interrupts. It indeed shuts the girl up. She hasn't heard that name in a long time. "Just take deep breaths. What happened in your dream?"

Dream? It had seemed so real, had felt so real.

She grasps the sheets again. Stares pleadingly into the other Paladins' eyes, hoping for anyone to tell her she wasn't dreaming, that it was real. But nobody says anything, and it confuses her even more.

Their silence prompts her to finally speak up. "I-I remember waking up in a tower...I don't know where it was, but...I was chained, and...Sendak showed up, he said you were there too, he didn't say anything about the others but he said you were there, he called you **Champion** , Shiro...I-I thought they captured you again, that they were making you fight in that arena again...A-And then Sendak tortured me, he-he cut a line on my cheek—" she chokes on a sob and looks up at Shiro with wide, teary eyes.

"It felt so real," she whispers brokenly.

The older man's face has gone pale.

He ignores the rest of his team and sits down next to her on her bed, encasing her in his arms. He knows exactly what the dream is about, but as she throws herself at him with a wail, he can't bring himself to tell her. He squeezes her trembling form closer to his chest and rubs her back in slow, small circles. "Sshhh, Pidge, you're okay," he soothes. "You're safe now. Haxus and Sendak are gone, and you were never in that tower. You've always been here with us. You're okay."

She shakes her head and hides her face in his chest with a hiccup. "B-But, it felt so real..."

He bites his lip. He really wants to tell her the truth, but he hesitates. A sharp glance from Allura prompts him as Coran ushers everyone else out of the small room.

"Pidge," he begins with a soft whisper, "you had a dream about your brother."

She slowly looks up at him. He shifts so she has space to pull back if she desires, but he doesn't quite let go. "M-Matt?" she sniffs.

He nods, running his human hand through her hair. "I remember this...thing, not far from the arena. I think that's where prisoners who are sent into the arena to fight are held after their combat. He must have been sent to that tower after I saved him from having to fight."

"No," she whispers, choking on another sob. Her face scrunches up as she tries to shake upcoming thoughts from her mind, but she is unsuccessful. If that is what they had done to her brother after he was dragged out of the arena, what else could he have possibly been through?

Shiro immediately picks up on her distress. "Hey, hey," he soothes, cupping her right cheek with his human hand. She sharply stares at him, eyes wide and filled with despair. It makes him want to shed a tear of his own. "Matt will be okay, you hear? That's why you're leaving tomorrow to find him, isn't it? We both know he's still alive, Pidge."

She blinks a few tears away. "P-Promise?"

He smiles warmly at her, rubbing her left shoulder with his mechanical hand. While the texture may not bring comfort to her small form, it might make her feel like her surroundings are _real_. "I promise." He squeezes her into his arms once more, resting his human hand on the back of her head. She hugs him back just as tightly, muttering a soft "thank you."

Finally, she withdrawals from the hug and slowly lies back down on her bed, shifting to her side, still facing Shiro. The man watches her, concern still etched into his face. He knows she has had this dream because of her eagerness to find Matt after a lead has been given to her by the Blade of Marmora. He knows she is stressed out, hoping with all of her heart that she finds her brother _alive_.

"Pidge," he adds, " are you sure you want to do this tomorrow? You might need to rest after that nightmare, and you'll definitely need all your energy and focus to find Matt."

But she is already half-asleep. "I won't rest until I find him," she whispers, having made her mind up stubbornly as she finally lets sleep win the internal battle. Her breathing evens out and even though she has had an unpleasant dream, there is a soft smile gracing her tear-stained face as she sleeps once more.

Shiro knows she is right. He lets her complete her mission the next day, but not without a hug for good luck and a promise to be back in one piece.

And if he is just as happy to see Matt again when his old crew member steps out of the Green Lion, well, he will not let anyone know.


End file.
